Imperious Entertainment

...
written by Jamaar , October 22, 2007

I thought the movie was entertaining, but Tyler Perry's simplistic writing style is annoying . Tyler Perry is so predictable that his name should be Tyler Predictable....Tyler Predictable, lol that should be his name lol!! There's also no gray area in a Tyler Perry film, everything is black and white (good versus evil), and that shit is gay and unrealistic!! With that being said the movie was funny and it touched on some issues that permeate the black community.

...
written by Jamaar , October 22, 2007

By the way you're dead on about the 80/20 rule, but you're bogus for crushing so many women's dreams!! Why couldn't you just let them have something to latch onto man?!!

...
written by Nice , October 22, 2007

This movie was funny.. I give it that.. but that's all I'll give it. I applaud Mr. Perry though because it's not easy breaking into Hollywood the way this man has. But with that being said, his movies are always so unrealistic to me and "Why Did I get Married" was no exception. I wanted to see more consequences, more "working it out", more hard times, more communication among the married couples. It was like- we have a problem, so..i'll cook you dinner/move out/cry on your shoulder and get remarried 8 months later and everything will be okay?! Are you serious? Tyler obviously knows what he's doing cause his movies always do well and I think it's more than black people just going out to show love and support- a lot of us actually love his films & their messages. If I hear or see one more woman proudly displaying or reciting this 80/20 rule I'm going to scream! He gives his audience (which mainly consist of black women) what they think they want.

...
written by Anonymous , October 22, 2007

I saw the movie last night and as a black woman, I found it entertaining. I was a bit disturbed by the way the movie made it seem like cheating is just a part of marriage to work through. Although, that notion does seem quite popular in black America anyway. (I don't care if white people cheat or not. Please, grown black men-- the "they do it to!" excuse is not going anywhere with me.) I hope that doesn't make me seem too angry. I'd hate to be seen as an "enraged black woman". Also, the 80/20 rule didn't mean crap to me ( sorry to burst your bubble guys). It just seemed like another cheap line in this cheap, yet entertaining movie...with all that said...Why y'all hatin, anyway?

...
written by Geoffrey Alls , October 22, 2007

I am not trying to "hate". I wrote this blog as a response to the overwhelming accliam this movie was recieving from black women. Further as a movie fan this movie was terribly predictable, and the dialogoue was elementary. Thats not hate that's truth. Besides I gave it props on being funny, you dont see guys getting smashed in the head with wine bottles everyday.

...
written by Jenna , October 22, 2007

For what it's worth, I thought the women were just as trifling too, giving your husband an STD and laughing about it? Going to get your tubes tied and lying to your husband that you are going to conceive? TRIFLING!

...
written by Simple Man , October 22, 2007

To Jenna: Right on sista! The woman were just as trifling! If I ever hear about a "Walter", it will be very difficult to prevent a domestic issue! Jk, I would never strike a woman but will shake the shit out of her though! And be done with her...

...
written by Jamaar , October 22, 2007

I'm not hating anonymous I just pointed out a few things I didn't like. By the way I agree with you about the cheating component of the movie being glossed over. I understand that women have to accept that men are going to cheat on them from time to time, but Tyler Perry can't start allowing women to cheat on men in his movies and then act like that's normal behavior. What's next are we going to start writing action movies about superheroes who are also pedophiles?!! That's just ignorant on so many levels everyone knows that if a woman cheats she's a slut, and no respectable man would stay in that relationship!! It's like when Billy Cosby said, "there's a small minority of people trying to make the abnormal normal!!"

...
written by Anonymous , October 22, 2007

Ok, Geff. I guess I just know what to expect when I see Tyler Perry movies. They're a special breed. Jamaar-- I totally agree with you that the portrayal of women having equal rights to cheat was unrealistic. Tyler Perry is really in the clouds sometimes. I mean, really, 3 out of the 4 black men in this movie had good jobs!! In Mr. Perry's defense though, he did at least have on real brotha in there living off his woman!!

...
written by TPickens , October 22, 2007

Hmmm, I enjoyed the movie: it was funny; it was honest in subject matter (even if not in a demonstrative sense). I do agree that Tyler Perry could work on developing a better ear for dialogue and a more nuanced representation of the actual rather than the prostelytization (sp?) of a particular actual. That is to say, write what you know rather than what you want your audience to believe.

However, I question some of the comments made: I don't think women or men have to accept a cheating partner. In the relationship depicted, both of them were cheating on each other. They both had issues to work out. It was clear (especially when he thought he might be poisoned) that they had trust issues. What I found remarkable was that there was a woman who admitted to cheating. It dispelled the myth that women don't cheat or somehow women can't be trifling too.

As for the 80/20 rule, I think that it was (and this was, I think, subtle) called into question when the Angie/Marcus pair reconciled and Mike tried to talk to Sheila. In both instances, it was not about the cheating partner(s) desire for fulfillment elsewhere, but about the reprecussions of following through on cheating. It didn't confirm or deny the 80/20 rule, but it did put fulfillment, desire, commitment and trust into conversation with each other. I'd consider it a rhetorical tool rather than a maxim.

On the whole, I think that Tyler Perry's movies achieve what he wants them to achieve: we are talking about these issues. Whether the characters are trite (the Jackson/Yoba pairing), predictable (Angie/Marcus/Keisha trio or Sheila/Mike/Trina/Troy storyline) or just not developed far enough (Sharon Leal & Tyler Perry pair), Perry at the very least engages us in these issues.

Did anyone else notice how much he relied on other movies/Black writing for assistance: the dinner scene as revelatory (The Color Purple), the confessional of perceived abandonment by God (The Color Purple, the book), &c?

...
written by Geoffrey Alls , October 23, 2007

I dont think that its a myth that women cheat. In fact I think we all know women cheat the only difference is that when women do it they are considered hoes. Of course people will say this is unfair and the double standard is wrong. The double standard is only wrong in one sense that men aren't called hoes as much as women, but women should be called hoes when they cheat. When a women cheats it endangers a families lineage which historically has all kinds of legal and social ramifications. For other reasons cheating is different you can refrece Mr. Stewarts blog or my previous blog.

...
written by she said , October 23, 2007

Geoffrey, I was SOO hoping that you would cover this movie. I actually haven't even seen it, but of the four women who i know have seen it, only one thought that it was a rediculous hot mess. I also never saw Diary of a Mad Black Woman. My experience of Perry has pretty much been limited to the gospel circuit Madea plays that friends may have had on DVD in their college apartments. I'm not sure how i feel about his work and i guess that's why i've never been a patron of it. But do remember being INCREDIBLY impressed when i saw the box office numbers that he pulled in with that first movie knowing good and well that it was almost purely a black audience that put him there.

He has the reach and ambition, just not the clearest of visions. So, if I don't catch him this go around (I'm not much of a movie person in general), I think i'm going to make it my business to catch him the next time b/c he is trying, (financially) succeeding, and while he may miss the mark in lackluster content, he is buildign wealth and opening doors for others to improve on what he has started in the years to come. Guess we gotta crawl before we can walk.

...
written by zamaih , October 23, 2007

Geoffris, you are classic for the titile of this blog. Good analysis film guru. Sea Pines, our directoral hit, ruined by Melody Cross is killing Why did I get Married. I agree with everyone, I guess we have to take Tyler Perry's work for what it's worth. I'll keep supporting him eventhough the writing, acting, and everything else in his movies and plays, is suspect. The movie was funny and I I did like it better than Diary of a Mad Black Woman. I hated Shamaar Moore's suspect fake cornrows. That alone should have gotten the movie a thumbs down.

...
written by anonymous , October 28, 2007

i didn't see the movie but your review was hilarious.

...
written by ? , October 29, 2007

wow, must we ALWAYS criticize each other I am appalled then again I'm not....

...
written by hiro nakamura , October 29, 2007

i didn't see the movie in theatres and i don't plan too. tyler perry is the simplest screenwriter that tries to seem complex. this is what makes me never wanting to see his movies or plays and people always break into gospel songs, i mean hello, not all black people are christian, some are muslim/jews like tata and her family. anyways it was pretty cool the boston red sox beat the rockies in a sweep. i was laughing cause it was funny.